Unfamiliar Territory - Chapter 12 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Every second passed incredibly slowly as Chloe waited in her stone-bricked shelter. Not that she knew how many were actually passing, there was no clock to watch. According to her stomach, it was time to eat, but aside from this she had no credible way of detecting how long she had been there. Her bottom had gone numb long before the light in the room turned orange. Shifting around too much would make her look just that - shifty. And her one objective as a kind-of hostage, the one thing she could do to help hers and Tove's case, was to behave as meek and unassuming as possible.

She was not a danger to them. She was not plotting anything. She had no ill intentions of any kind.

The backpack was pulling on her shoulders, she had been too nervous to take it off and seem like she was doing so in order to pull out some nefarious magical device. The pain was reaching up her neck, almost at her jaw, when she had to cave in. She pulled her arms free, one strap at a time, and then twisted, keeping her face forward, to drag the bag round to her front and leave it at her feet. The guards watched her, one tightening his grip on his spear.

"I packed too many clothes," she croaked, hoping they would find her funny. They didn't.

When the single, bare room shifted from orange to red, a familiar face bounded through the open doorway, ignoring the guards and hurrying to Chloe. The sky reflected in Tove’s dark brown hair gave her a heated glow, shifting her into a fiery auburn. She was smiling, of course.

"Tove," Chloe breathed. They slammed together in another painful hug. Relief she hadn't been expecting to hit so strong rang through her, leaving her shaking. The squeeze of Tove’s hands at her shoulders grounded her for a moment, it felt incredible after the wait she had endured. "What happened?"

"I am in so much trouble," Tove laughed. She laughed harder when she saw Chloe's horror. "More with my parents than Alpha, don't worry."

"What did you say? And what did they say? And what happens n-"

"Hang on!” Tove shook her shoulders gently with another laugh. “Let's sit and I'll tell you everything."

Chloe refused. "You can sit if you want but I've sat so long I can't feel my bum."

Releasing her with an extra soft squeeze around her arms, Tove stalked around her like a dog circling its bed. For a moment, Chloe felt self-conscious, that she was being scanned over for anything amiss. Then, Tove moved deeper into the room, swatting at Chloe’s numb bum on the way and throwing herself onto the back bench with wide legs.

"Fine, but if you change your mind..." She patted her knee with a wink.

Chloe flushed, forcing herself not to acknowledge the guards still in the room. She kept her back to the door, standing directly in front of Tove with crossed arms, pedalling the soles of her feet to bring back the blood flow, awaiting the grand story.

"I explained everything from start to finish as best I could in simple terms,” Tove began. She had slumped back against the rough wall behind her, unbothered by the stone digging into her back and elbows. “Simple terms being that I only understand all this on a simple level myself..."

Chloe shrugged with an understanding smile. It was difficult to explain the familiar bond to someone who knew nothing of magic, even moreso for that person to try and explain it so someone else who knew nothing either.

"Alpha and Beta were quiet for a long time while my parents told me off some more,” Tove continued, as though happily reminiscing. “My mum wanted to come up here and drag you out of the pack herself-” Chloe’s muscles bunched and she fought not to glance over her shoulder on the lookout for a furious mother wolf. “-and I had to keep explaining that it's not possible.” That did not reassure Chloe that she wasn’t still a target of Tove’s parents’ wrath. “I told them how I tried to leave and got stuck against an invisible barrier. Then my dad said you are the magic one, so you should be the one to fix the spell and I said that wasn't possible either. Then Beta spoke and said that regardless of the situation, a witch cannot be within wolf territory and a solution must be found that takes you back out the door and away from us. I told them there is one option that would fit: I can leave again. I came home to see my family and let them know I'm okay, but if it's not possible to find a compromise, then I can go back out with you and everyone will be happy." Tove paused with an eye roll. "They were not happy. My parents said I should never be allowed to leave the pack again since I'm so naive I would get caught up in witchcraft. Beta was kind-of agreeing with them but I could tell he was more focused on a way to get magic folk back off our lands. And then, finally, Alpha spoke and everyone else shut up."

Chloe clasped her hands over her chest nervously. "What did he say?"

"That he believed me, but that didn't change the fact that I'd brought a banned species into the pack. I’m not to leave again - that part’s my punishment, I think. And the bond needs to be broken regardless.” Impossible, completely and totally impossible. “He is willing to wait as long as it takes for you to figure it out. Until then-” Tove winced and Chloe braced herself. “-you're a prisoner of the pack and you will live up-top in one of the restored houses. No one will hurt you, you'll be given food and water and whatever else you need, but you can't leave until the bond is broken.” Tove was uncharacteristically solemn, head bowed a little. “Oh, and no magic inside the wall unless you get Alpha permission first."

Chloe tilted her head… That was it? It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t terrible news. She wasn’t going to be strung up by her feet from the nearest guard tower. Tove watched Chloe's face carefully as she turned all of this information over in her mind. There was time left until the end of Summer… and of all the places for her to vacation - this was the dream. This city, hidden deep in the forest and sheltered from the outside world, in which werewolves created everything they had themselves and did all of their own foraging and mending… it was a paradise to any nature witch. There was no way to break the bond spell, so that was practically irrelevant in the face of what Chloe could gain here. She could learn skills that her own kind had lost to an addiction to convenience. And maybe, before the Summer ended, she could convince them to free her and Tove both. Or they could escape. Either way, bond-breaking as a way of getting out wasn’t an option.

“Okay.” Chloe nodded.

“Okay?” Tove leant forward, elbows on knees, and Chloe stepped between them.

“As long as we keep track of the days passing, I’m not worried.” She flipped her braid behind her shoulder and adjusted her spectacles. “I need to get back to school at the end of the Summer.” They shared a look of understanding: they would have to find a non-magical means of leaving by that time.

Tove grinned up at her, sharp teeth dyed red in the sunset. “You're surprisingly calm about this news.”

“You were surprisingly calm about getting shot,” Chloe rebutted, taking a seat on Tove’s thigh. Her hands moved fast enough to not be squashed, and circled Chloe’s hips in a cradle.

She pulled her in closer for a few seconds, an embrace. It was warm, and smelled of nights spent sleeping under the stars. “Are you saying my personality is rubbing off on you?” she teased.

“Soon I'll be walking around bare-footed.”

“I'd prefer bare-chested, but whatever you're comfortable with.”

Chloe’s confidence shrunk into a grain of rice and disappeared with a ‘pop.’ She couldn’t bear to check if the guards were looking, instead burying her face in Tove’s shoulder and scolding her into the material of her top. Tove may not have understood the words, but she caught the tone. She laughed again, and Chloe couldn’t keep from joining in.

What a ridiculous situation. And what an equally ridiculous day they’d had. She mused the wild experience with her head still pillowed against Tove’s shoulder. Tove let her rest for a bit, rocking them on the bench a little. If Chloe weren’t so hungry, she could have easily dozed off there in the fading light.

“We should pick out your hut before it gets dark,” Tove reminded them quietly. “We’ll need to set it up for the night.”

“What are my options?”

“Any one you want, no one lives up here.”

Chloe straightened. “I’ll be all alone?”

“Except for the guards on patrol - and me, I’ll sneak out after everyone’s asleep and keep you warm.” She winked in the door guards' direction, then at Chloe. The second wink was less cheeky, more inviting. Chloe hid her face again for a moment. Something about Tove’s flirting always felt too intense for Chloe to withstand without shying away, as though it was directed at the wrong person and she should be embarrassed for receiving it.

“Why have all these buildings up here if they’re not used, then?” Her words were a little muffled by Tove's top.

“The city was gifted to us. It doesn’t really suit our lifestyle, but we do use some of it. Partly for materials.” The half-demolished houses came to mind. “The den is our main home, but as it gets more and more full-” Tove chuckled to herself and shook her head as though this were an inside joke. “-then some of the businesses move out here. The den has to be our home before anything else, so things like markets or workshops are turfed out if we need more room for people to live.”

“I see…” Chloe glanced at the guards. They were not looking their way, but seemed stiff. Perhaps they’d also been suffering in the wait for Tove. One more question wouldn’t hurt them… “How do you get gifted a city?”

“Now that, I don’t know much about, you’d have to ask Suren. She keeps all the records and the stories in the den, but she comes up top sometimes, too. I’ll point her out tomorrow.”

“I doubt she would be willing to part with our history to an outsider,” grumbled the older guard. “And you should watch your words, too, Tove.”

“Chloe is my friend,” Tove announced proudly. Chloe’s face burned at the undeserved tone. “And she tells me all about magic folk, so it is an equal trade.”

“There’s nothing worth knowing about magic folk,” the guard scoffed. “They’re selfish and thieving and corrupt to the core. Keep only that in mind when you deal with them.”

Tove's thigh jolted under her, muscles clenching. “That’s not true!” she snapped.

“It’s okay, Tove.” Chloe ran her fingers along Tove’s spine in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. “I’m sure he’s right about the last magic folk your pack would have come into contact with. There is plenty in our history we’re not proud of.” She smiled meekly at the older guard. “I’ll do my best to show the difference while I’m here.”

The guard ignored her. Tove scowled, it didn't suit her.

“Shall we go and pick a hut?” Chloe suggested, sensing unhelpful arguing on the horizon.

“Sure. Then dinner.”

Chloe nodded eagerly, hopping back onto her feet, and let Tove lead her out by the hand.